We've heard ministers say when an argument or debate develops with someone (say a spouse or a co-worker), you should ask: "Is this hill worth dying for?" The same sort of question comes up in poker all the time. We faced it tonight during a critical hand at Soho Bar and Grill....
BLINDS: 50/100
IN THE POCKET: K-K
We're first in line to bet, and have 3,275 chips due to early losses. Sensing a comeback hand, we raise to 400. Several players at the full table call.
ON THE FLOP: 7-8-9 (various suits)
A flop filled with potential trouble. We don't want any straight-chasers to stick around. So when the play checks to us, we bet 1,000. It's not enough, as three players call.
ON THE TURN: J
As we said.... trouble. Is someone holding a 10? The play checks to us again. This time we check. The entire table checks.
ON THE RIVER: J
Two players are in the hand ahead of us. The first checks. The second bets 2,000 -- and since we have 1,875 left, this would put us all-in. While we have an "over-pair" for two pair, we decide after a moment this man has a Jack to top us.
"I can't do it," we say folding. Everyone else folds.
"I didn't have anything...." says the pot winner. He shows A-4, and indeed bluffed his way to victory. Ouch.
We pull out our Kings and show them -- and a man across the table can't believe it. "Kings!? You go HOME with those! You go HOME!!.... If someone beats you, they beat you."
We try to explain our thinking. The man who bluffed asks what our chip count is, and notes we had an all-in decision to make. "You made a good decision," he tells us. "There's plenty of time...."
Maybe so -- but we're left thinking we squandered the right time. Perhaps we could have run off pretenders by betting more on the flop, or even before it. But that's admittedly not our normal nature.
Time ran out for us rather quickly after that. Several potential strong hands failed to develop on the flop -- and we wound up losing an all-in bet holding A-6 when the board didn't pair. Sometimes it's simply not your night.
MINISTRY MOMENT: We showed that big bluffer our "Jesus as your Savior" coin tonight. As it happened, he'd seen the Christian Motorcyclists crest on the back of it earlier in the week. He quietly agreed with the message about Jesus on it.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 73 final tables in 177 nights (41.2%) - 14 cashes.
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